U.S. patent application number 14/872513 was filed with the patent office on 2017-04-06 for purge and pumping structures arranged beneath substrate plane to reduce defects.
The applicant listed for this patent is Lam Research Corporation. Invention is credited to Ramesh Chandrasekharan, Adrien Lavoie, Shankar Swaminathan.
Application Number | 20170098556 14/872513 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 58448011 |
Filed Date | 2017-04-06 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170098556 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Chandrasekharan; Ramesh ; et
al. |
April 6, 2017 |
PURGE AND PUMPING STRUCTURES ARRANGED BENEATH SUBSTRATE PLANE TO
REDUCE DEFECTS
Abstract
A substrate processing system includes a processing chamber
including a top surface, a bottom surface and side walls. A
substrate support is arranged in the processing chamber to support
a substrate during processing. A purge structure is arranged in the
processing chamber below a plane occupied by the substrate during
processing. The purge structure includes a first plurality of holes
configured to supply purge gas to purge an area between the
substrate support and the bottom surface of the processing
chamber.
Inventors: |
Chandrasekharan; Ramesh;
(Portland, OR) ; Swaminathan; Shankar; (Beaverton,
OR) ; Lavoie; Adrien; (Newberg, OR) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Lam Research Corporation |
Fremont |
CA |
US |
|
|
Family ID: |
58448011 |
Appl. No.: |
14/872513 |
Filed: |
October 1, 2015 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H01J 37/32009 20130101;
H01J 37/32834 20130101; H01J 37/3244 20130101; H01J 37/32715
20130101; C23C 16/45519 20130101; C23C 16/4583 20130101; C23C
16/4412 20130101 |
International
Class: |
H01L 21/67 20060101
H01L021/67; H01J 37/32 20060101 H01J037/32; C23C 16/46 20060101
C23C016/46; C23C 16/458 20060101 C23C016/458; C23C 16/44 20060101
C23C016/44; C23C 16/455 20060101 C23C016/455; H01L 21/683 20060101
H01L021/683; C23C 16/50 20060101 C23C016/50 |
Claims
1. A substrate processing system comprising: a processing chamber
including a top surface, a bottom surface and side walls; a
substrate support arranged in the processing chamber to support a
substrate during processing; and a purge structure arranged in the
processing chamber below a plane occupied by the substrate during
processing, wherein the purge structure includes a first plurality
of holes configured to supply purge gas to purge an area between
the substrate support and the bottom surface of the processing
chamber.
2. The substrate processing system of claim 1, wherein the first
plurality of holes directs purge gas in a downwardly direction
towards the bottom surface of the processing chamber.
3. The substrate processing system of claim 1, wherein the first
plurality of holes directs purge gas in a downwardly and radially
outwardly direction.
4. The substrate processing system of claim 1, wherein the purge
structure is connected to a bottom surface of the substrate
support.
5. The substrate processing system of claim 1, wherein the purge
structure includes a body and a plenum defined in the body, wherein
the first plurality of holes is formed in the body and is in fluid
communication with the plenum.
6. The substrate processing system of claim 1, wherein the purge
structure includes a body and a cavity defined in the body, wherein
the first plurality of holes is formed in the body and is in fluid
communication with the cavity, and wherein the cavity and a bottom
surface of the substrate support form a plenum.
7. The substrate processing system of claim 1, wherein the purge
structure includes an elongate member that is attached to a bottom
surface of the substrate support.
8. The substrate processing system of claim 1, wherein the
substrate support includes a central supporting member connecting
the substrate support to the bottom surface of the processing
chamber and wherein the processing chamber further includes exhaust
pumping ports.
9. The substrate processing system of claim 8, further comprising a
pumping structure arranged below the substrate support and around
the central supporting member, wherein the pumping structure
includes a second plurality of holes for controlling flow from the
processing chamber through the pumping structure to the exhaust
pumping ports.
10. The substrate processing system of claim 9, wherein the pumping
structure includes: a first portion arranged around the central
supporting member; and a second portion connected to the first
portion and extending from the first portion to the side walls of
the processing chamber, wherein the second plurality of holes of
the pumping structure is arranged at spaced locations on the second
portion.
11. The substrate processing system of claim 10, wherein the first
portion includes a cylindrical portion and the second portion
includes a planar portion.
12. The substrate processing system of claim 11, wherein the planar
portion has a cross-section to mate with a bottom portion of the
processing chamber and to define a first volume in fluid
communication with a reaction zone and second volume in fluid
communication with vacuum and wherein the first plurality of holes
fluidly connects the first volume with the second volume.
13. The substrate processing system of claim 1, further comprising
a heater to heat the purge structure to a predetermined
temperature.
14. The substrate processing system of claim 9, further comprising
a heater to heat the pumping structure to a predetermined
temperature.
15. A substrate processing system comprising: a processing chamber
including a top surface, a bottom surface and side walls and
exhaust pumping ports; a substrate support arranged in the
processing chamber to support a substrate during processing,
wherein the substrate support includes a central supporting member
connecting the substrate support to the bottom surface of the
processing chamber; and a pumping structure arranged in the
processing chamber below the substrate support and around the
central supporting member, wherein the pumping structure includes a
first plurality of holes to control flow from the processing
chamber through the pumping structure to the exhaust pumping
ports.
16. The substrate processing system of claim 15, wherein the
pumping structure includes: a first portion arranged around the
central supporting member; and a second portion connected to the
first portion and extending from the first portion to the side
walls of the processing chamber, wherein the first plurality of
holes of the pumping structure is arranged at spaced locations on
the second portion.
17. The substrate processing system of claim 16, wherein the first
portion includes a cylindrical portion and the second portion
includes a planar portion.
18. The substrate processing system of claim 15, wherein the planar
portion has a cross-section to mate with a bottom portion of the
processing chamber and to define a first volume in fluid
communication with a reaction zone and second volume in fluid
communication with vacuum and wherein the first plurality of holes
fluidly connect the first volume with the second volume.
19. The substrate processing system of claim 15, further comprising
a heater to heat the pumping structure to a predetermined
temperature.
20. The substrate processing system of claim 15, further comprising
a purge structure arranged in the processing chamber below a plane
defined by the substrate during processing, wherein the purge
structure includes a plenum and a second plurality of holes
configured to flow purge gas from the plenum through the second
plurality of holes to purge an area between the substrate support
and the bottom surface of the processing chamber.
Description
FIELD
[0001] The present disclosure relates to substrate processing
systems, and more particularly to purge structures and/or pumping
structures arranged beneath a substrate plane to reduce
defects.
BACKGROUND
[0002] The background description provided here is for the purpose
of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the
presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this
background section, as well as aspects of the description that may
not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are
neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the
present disclosure.
[0003] Substrate processing systems for performing deposition
and/or etching typically include a processing chamber, a gas
distribution device such as a showerhead and a substrate support. A
substrate such as a semiconductor wafer may be arranged on the
substrate support. During processing, different gas mixtures may be
introduced into the processing chamber and then evacuated. The
process is repeated multiple times to deposit film, to etch the
substrate or to perform other substrate treatment. In some
substrate processing systems, radio frequency (RF) plasma may be
used to activate chemical reactions.
[0004] Some substrate processing systems use a reaction zone
between the substrate and the gas distribution device. The reaction
zone may be isolated from a large processing chamber volume using a
gas curtain. The large chamber volume helps to mitigate parasitic
coupling to grounded processing chamber walls (due to the increased
distance). However, the large chamber volume also has dead volumes
that can accumulate particles, which may increase defects.
SUMMARY
[0005] A substrate processing system includes a processing chamber
including a top surface, a bottom surface and side walls. A
substrate support is arranged in the processing chamber to support
a substrate during processing. A purge structure is arranged in the
processing chamber below a plane occupied by the substrate during
processing. The purge structure includes a first plurality of holes
configured to supply purge gas to purge an area between the
substrate support and the bottom surface of the processing
chamber.
[0006] In other features, the first plurality of holes directs
purge gas in a downwardly direction towards the bottom surface of
the processing chamber. The first plurality of holes directs purge
gas in a downwardly and radially outwardly direction. The purge
structure is connected to a bottom surface of the substrate
support. The purge structure includes a body and a plenum defined
in the body. The first plurality of holes is formed in the body and
is in fluid communication with the plenum.
[0007] In other features, the purge structure includes a body and a
cavity defined in the body. The first plurality of holes is formed
in the body and is in fluid communication with the cavity. The
cavity and a bottom surface of the substrate support form a
plenum.
[0008] In other features, the purge structure includes an elongate
member that is attached to a bottom surface of the substrate
support. The substrate support includes a central supporting member
connecting the substrate support to the bottom surface of the
processing chamber. The processing chamber further includes exhaust
pumping ports.
[0009] In other features, a pumping structure arranged below the
substrate support and around the central supporting member. The
pumping structure includes a second plurality of holes for
controlling flow from the processing chamber through the pumping
structure to the exhaust pumping ports.
[0010] In other features, the pumping structure includes a first
portion arranged around the central supporting member and a second
portion connected to the first portion and extending from the first
portion to the side walls of the processing chamber. The second
plurality of holes of the pumping structure is arranged at spaced
locations on the second portion.
[0011] In other features, the first portion includes a cylindrical
portion and the second portion includes a planar portion.
[0012] In other features, the planar portion has a cross-section to
mate with a bottom portion of the processing chamber and to define
a first volume in fluid communication with a reaction zone and
second volume in fluid communication with vacuum. The first
plurality of holes fluidly connect the first volume with the second
volume.
[0013] In other features, a heater heats the purge structure to a
predetermined temperature. A heater heats the pumping structure to
a predetermined temperature.
[0014] A substrate processing system includes a processing chamber
including a top surface, a bottom surface and side walls and
exhaust pumping ports. A substrate support is arranged in the
processing chamber to support a substrate during processing,
wherein the substrate support includes a central supporting member
connecting the substrate support to the bottom surface of the
processing chamber. A pumping structure is arranged in the
processing chamber below the substrate support and around the
central supporting member. The pumping structure includes a first
plurality of holes for controlling flow from the processing chamber
through the pumping structure to the exhaust pumping ports.
[0015] The pumping structure includes a first portion arranged
around the central supporting member and a second portion connected
to the first portion and extending from the first portion to the
side walls of the processing chamber. The first plurality of holes
of the pumping structure is arranged at spaced locations on the
second portion.
[0016] In other features, the first portion includes a cylindrical
portion and the second portion includes a planar portion. The
planar portion has a cross-section to mate with a bottom portion of
the processing chamber and to define a first volume in fluid
communication with a reaction zone and second volume in fluid
communication with vacuum. The first plurality of holes fluidly
connects the first volume with the second volume.
[0017] In other features, a heater heats the pumping structure to a
predetermined temperature.
[0018] In other features, a purge structure is arranged in the
processing chamber below a plane defined by the substrate during
processing. The purge structure includes a plenum and a second
plurality of holes configured to flow purge gas from the plenum
through the second plurality of holes to purge an area between the
substrate support and the bottom surface of the processing
chamber.
[0019] Further areas of applicability of the present disclosure
will become apparent from the detailed description, the claims and
the drawings. The detailed description and specific examples are
intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to
limit the scope of the disclosure.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0020] The present disclosure will become more fully understood
from the detailed description and the accompanying drawings,
wherein:
[0021] FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram and partial side
cross-sectional view of an example of a substrate processing system
including a purge structure arranged beneath a substrate support
according to the present disclosure;
[0022] FIG. 2 is a side cross-sectional view another example of a
purge structure according to the present disclosure;
[0023] FIG. 3A is a plan view of a bottom of a lower electrode
illustrating another example of a purge structure according to the
present disclosure;
[0024] FIGS. 3B and 3C are side cross-sectional views of examples
of the purge structure in FIG. 3A;
[0025] FIG. 4 is a side cross-sectional view of an example of a
substrate processing chamber including a purge structure and a
pumping structure arranged beneath a substrate support according to
the present disclosure; and
[0026] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the pumping structure of
FIG. 4.
[0027] In the drawings, reference numbers may be reused to identify
similar and/or identical elements.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0028] Typically, there are two dead volumes in processing
chambers. One dead volume is located above a horizontal plane of
the gas distribution device. Another dead volume is located below a
horizontal plane including the substrate. The dead volume above the
plane of the gas distribution device may be managed by purge gas
emanating from a collar arranged on a stem of the gas distribution
device. The gas curtain prevents back-streaming of reaction gases
from the reaction zone, which reduces particle accumulation. The
substrate processing system according to the present disclosure
includes a purge structure and/or a pumping structure located in
the dead volume beneath the substrate.
[0029] Referring now to FIG. 1, an example substrate processing
system 1 is shown. While the foregoing example will be described in
the context of plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PEALD), the
present disclosure may be applied to other substrate processing
systems such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), PECVD, ALE, ALD,
PEALE or other substrate treatment. The substrate processing system
1 includes a processing chamber 2 that encloses other components of
the substrate processing system 1 and contains the RF plasma (if
used). The processing chamber 2 includes a top surface, a bottom
surface, and side surfaces.
[0030] The substrate processing system 1 includes an upper
electrode 4 and a substrate support 6. In some examples, the
substrate support 6 includes an electrostatic chuck. During
operation, a substrate 8 is arranged on the substrate support 6.
The substrate support 6 may include a central column or supporting
member 7 connecting the substrate support 6 in a spaced
relationship relative to the bottom surface of the processing
chamber 2.
[0031] For example only, the upper electrode 4 may include a gas
distribution device 9 such as a showerhead that introduces and
distributes process gases. The gas distribution device 9 may
include a stem portion including one end connected to a top surface
of the processing chamber. A base portion is generally cylindrical
and extends radially outwardly from an opposite end of the stem
portion at a location that is spaced from the top surface of the
processing chamber. A substrate-facing surface or faceplate of the
base portion of the showerhead includes a plurality of holes
through which process gas or purge gas flows. Alternately, the
upper electrode 4 may include a conducting plate and the process
gases may be introduced in another manner.
[0032] In some examples, the substrate support 6 may include a
lower electrode 10. The lower electrode 10 may support a heating
plate 12, which may correspond to a ceramic multi-zone heating
plate. A thermal resistance layer 14 may be arranged between the
heating plate 12 and the lower electrode 10. The lower electrode 10
may include one or more coolant channels 16 for flowing coolant
through the lower electrode 10.
[0033] An RF generating system 20 generates and outputs an RF
voltage to one of the upper electrode 4 and the lower electrode 10.
The other one of the upper electrode 4 and the lower electrode 10
may be DC grounded, AC grounded or floating. For example only, the
RF generating system 20 may include an RF generator 22 that
generates RF power that is fed by a matching and distribution
network 24 to the upper electrode 4 or the lower electrode 10. In
other examples, the plasma may be generated inductively or
remotely.
[0034] A gas delivery system 30 includes one or more gas sources
32-1, 32-2, . . . , and 32-N (collectively gas sources 32), where N
is an integer greater than zero. The gas sources 32 are connected
by valves 34-1, 34-2, . . . , and 34-N (collectively valves 34) and
mass flow controllers 36-1, 36-2, . . . , and 36-N (collectively
mass flow controllers 36) to a manifold 40.
[0035] A temperature controller 42 may be connected to a plurality
of thermal control elements (TCEs) 44 arranged in the heating plate
12. The temperature controller 42 may be used to control the
plurality of TCEs 44 to control a temperature of the substrate
support 6 and the substrate 8. The temperature controller 42 may
communicate with a coolant assembly 46 to control coolant flow
through the channels 16. For example, the coolant assembly 46 may
include a coolant pump and reservoir. The temperature controller 42
operates the coolant assembly 46 to selectively flow the coolant
through the channels 16 to cool the substrate support 6.
[0036] A valve 50 and pump 52 may be used to evacuate reactants
from the processing chamber 2. A system controller 60 may be used
to control components of the substrate processing system 1. A robot
70 may be used to deliver substrates onto, and remove substrates
from, the substrate support 6. For example, the robot 70 may
transfer substrates between the substrate support 6 and a load lock
72.
[0037] A purge structure 73 such as a collar with slots may be used
to provide purge gas in an area 74 above a showerhead. A purge gas
source 75 and a valve 77 supply the purge gas to the purge
structure 73. The system controller 60 may be used to control the
valve 77. Suitable purge structures are shown and described in
commonly-assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/659,231,
filed on Oct. 24, 2012 and entitled "Suppression of Parasitic
Deposition in a Substrate Processing System By Suppressing
Precursor Flow and Plasma Outside of Substrate Region", which is
hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
[0038] A purge structure 84 according to the present disclosure
provides purge gas in an area 79 below the substrate support 6. A
purge gas source 80 supplies purge gas via a valve 82 to the purge
structure 84. In some examples, the system controller 60 controls
the valve 82. The purge structure 84 includes a plenum 86 in fluid
communication with a plurality of holes 88. In some examples, the
purge structure 84 includes an annular body 87 and the plenum 86
has an annular shape.
[0039] As the purge gas is supplied into the plenum 86, pressure
increases in the plenum 86 and the purge gas flows through the
plurality of holes 88 into the dead volume beneath the substrate
support 6. In some examples, the plurality of holes 88 is directed
downwardly in a direction perpendicular to a plane occupied by the
substrate 8. In other examples, the plurality of holes 88 is
directed downwardly and radially outwardly at an angle between a
first direction perpendicular to the plane of the substrate 8 and a
second direction parallel to the plane of the substrate 8 (as
shown).
[0040] A temperature of the purge structure 84 may be controlled by
the temperature controller 42. In some examples, the temperature of
the purge structure 84 may be sensed using a sensor (not shown) and
fed back to the temperature controller 42. In other examples,
open-loop control of heat supplied to the purge structure 84 can be
used. For example only, a film heater 89 may be arranged between
the purge structure 84 and the bottom surface of the lower
electrode 10 (or on another surface of the purge structure 84),
although other types of heaters may be used.
[0041] Referring now to FIG. 2, another example of a purge
structure 90 according to the present disclosure is shown. The
purge structure 90 defines a plenum 92 in conjunction with a bottom
surface of the lower electrode 10. A plurality of holes 93 supplies
purge gas from the plenum 92 to the area 76 beneath the substrate
support 6. The plurality of holes 93 may be directed downwardly or
downwardly and radially outwardly as described above.
[0042] In some examples, "O"-rings 95 and 96 may be arranged in
slots 94 formed in the bottom surface of the lower electrode 10 and
the purge structure 90 to provide a seal. In addition, fasteners 97
may also be used to hold the plenum 92 against the bottom surface
of the lower electrode 10. Purge gas is supplied via the valve 82
and one or more passages 98 to the plenum 92. While a specific
arrangement of fasteners, slots and "O"-rings is disclosed, other
arrangements can be used to seal the plenum 92 against the bottom
surface of the lower electrode 10. A heater 99 may be used to heat
the purge structure 90 as described above.
[0043] Referring now to FIG. 3A-3C, another example of a purge
structure 100 according to the present disclosure is shown. The
purge structure 100 includes an elongate member such as a tube
including a plurality of holes 104 on a bottom-facing surface
thereof. For example only, the annular tube can be in the form of a
continuous or discontinuous ring. While a circular cross-section
may be used, other cross-sections such as square, elliptical
rectangular, etc. may be used as shown in the examples in FIGS. 3B
and 3C. In some examples, the purge structure 100 is attached to
the bottom surface of the lower electrode 10 using fasteners 106 or
another attachment mechanism. The plurality of holes 104 in the
purge structure may be directed downwardly or downwardly and
outwardly as described above. A heater 108 may be used to heat the
purge structure 100.
[0044] Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, a substrate processing
chamber 110 includes the purge structure 84 described above and/or
a pumping structure arranged beneath the substrate support. In FIG.
4, process gas, purge gas and electrical connections for an upper
portion of the processing chamber are generally identified at 112.
A collar 114 including a plurality of slots 116 may be used to
supply purge gas in an area 118 located between a showerhead 120
and an upper surface of the processing chamber.
[0045] Process gas is supplied to an area between the showerhead
120 and a substrate arranged on a substrate support 122. Process
gas, purge gas and electrical connections for a lower portion of
the processing chamber are located in the center column 7. The
purge structure 84 and a pumping structure 138 may be used to help
control gas flow in a volume 136 below the substrate support 122 as
will be described further below.
[0046] The pumping structure 138 divides the volume 136 into an
upper volume 136-1 located above the pumping structure 138 and a
lower volume 136-2 located below the pumping structure 138. The
upper volume 136-1 receives process gas, purge gas and process
reactants from a process being performed in the processing chamber.
The pumping structure 138 includes a plurality of holes 140 to draw
gas flow from the upper volume 136-1 to the lower volume 136-2. The
lower volume 136-2 is in fluid communication with exhaust openings,
which are connected to a vacuum source and are used to remove
reactants from the processing chamber.
[0047] In FIG. 5, an example of the pumping structure 138 is shown
to include a first portion 150 that is connected to a second
portion 152. The first portion 150 may be connected generally
perpendicular to the second portion 152. The first portion 150 may
have a generally cylindrical shape. The second portion 152 may be
planar and may have a football-shaped cross section and a center
opening 156. The plurality of holes 140 may be arranged on the
second portion 152 arranged at a plurality of spaced locations
around the second portion 152. While a specific football-shaped
structure is shown, the pumping structure 138 may have circular,
elliptical, rectangular, or any suitable shape that mates with an
inner surface of the processing chamber to provide the separate
volumes 136-1 and 136.2.
[0048] The dead zone located beneath the substrate support was not
previously actively purged and surfaces in this region tend to be
cooler than the substrate support. Therefore, there was a potential
for enhanced precursor adsorption and reaction with oxidizing or
clean gas radicals with long mean free paths. As a result,
parasitic oxide or CF), type formation occurred. The non-volatile
residues build up over time and may increase substrate defects.
[0049] The purging structure and/or pumping structures according to
the present disclosure help to manage a conductance path for
reactive species, which reduces defects and improves wafer
uniformity.
[0050] The foregoing description is merely illustrative in nature
and is in no way intended to limit the disclosure, its application,
or uses. The broad teachings of the disclosure can be implemented
in a variety of forms. Therefore, while this disclosure includes
particular examples, the true scope of the disclosure should not be
so limited since other modifications will become apparent upon a
study of the drawings, the specification, and the following claims.
It should be understood that one or more steps within a method may
be executed in different order (or concurrently) without altering
the principles of the present disclosure. Further, although each of
the embodiments is described above as having certain features, any
one or more of those features described with respect to any
embodiment of the disclosure can be implemented in and/or combined
with features of any of the other embodiments, even if that
combination is not explicitly described. In other words, the
described embodiments are not mutually exclusive, and permutations
of one or more embodiments with one another remain within the scope
of this disclosure.
[0051] Spatial and functional relationships between elements (for
example, between modules, circuit elements, semiconductor layers,
etc.) are described using various terms, including "connected,"
"engaged," "coupled," "adjacent," "next to," "on top of," "above,"
"below," and "disposed." Unless explicitly described as being
"direct," when a relationship between first and second elements is
described in the above disclosure, that relationship can be a
direct relationship where no other intervening elements are present
between the first and second elements, but can also be an indirect
relationship where one or more intervening elements are present
(either spatially or functionally) between the first and second
elements. As used herein, the phrase at least one of A, B, and C
should be construed to mean a logical (A OR B OR C), using a
non-exclusive logical OR, and should not be construed to mean "at
least one of A, at least one of B, and at least one of C."
[0052] In some implementations, a controller is part of a system,
which may be part of the above-described examples. Such systems can
comprise semiconductor processing equipment, including a processing
tool or tools, chamber or chambers, a platform or platforms for
processing, and/or specific processing components (a wafer
pedestal, a gas flow system, etc.). These systems may be integrated
with electronics for controlling their operation before, during,
and after processing of a semiconductor wafer or substrate. The
electronics may be referred to as the "controller," which may
control various components or subparts of the system or systems.
The controller, depending on the processing requirements and/or the
type of system, may be programmed to control any of the processes
disclosed herein, including the delivery of processing gases,
temperature settings (e.g., heating and/or cooling), pressure
settings, vacuum settings, power settings, radio frequency (RF)
generator settings, RF matching circuit settings, frequency
settings, flow rate settings, fluid delivery settings, positional
and operation settings, wafer transfers into and out of a tool and
other transfer tools and/or load locks connected to or interfaced
with a specific system.
[0053] Broadly speaking, the controller may be defined as
electronics having various integrated circuits, logic, memory,
and/or software that receive instructions, issue instructions,
control operation, enable cleaning operations, enable endpoint
measurements, and the like. The integrated circuits may include
chips in the form of firmware that store program instructions,
digital signal processors (DSPs), chips defined as application
specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and/or one or more
microprocessors, or microcontrollers that execute program
instructions (e.g., software). Program instructions may be
instructions communicated to the controller in the form of various
individual settings (or program files), defining operational
parameters for carrying out a particular process on or for a
semiconductor wafer or to a system. The operational parameters may,
in some embodiments, be part of a recipe defined by process
engineers to accomplish one or more processing steps during the
fabrication of one or more layers, materials, metals, oxides,
silicon, silicon dioxide, surfaces, circuits, and/or dies of a
wafer.
[0054] The controller, in some implementations, may be a part of or
coupled to a computer that is integrated with the system, coupled
to the system, otherwise networked to the system, or a combination
thereof. For example, the controller may be in the "cloud" or all
or a part of a fab host computer system, which can allow for remote
access of the wafer processing. The computer may enable remote
access to the system to monitor current progress of fabrication
operations, examine a history of past fabrication operations,
examine trends or performance metrics from a plurality of
fabrication operations, to change parameters of current processing,
to set processing steps to follow a current processing, or to start
a new process. In some examples, a remote computer (e.g. a server)
can provide process recipes to a system over a network, which may
include a local network or the Internet. The remote computer may
include a user interface that enables entry or programming of
parameters and/or settings, which are then communicated to the
system from the remote computer. In some examples, the controller
receives instructions in the form of data, which specify parameters
for each of the processing steps to be performed during one or more
operations. It should be understood that the parameters may be
specific to the type of process to be performed and the type of
tool that the controller is configured to interface with or
control. Thus as described above, the controller may be
distributed, such as by comprising one or more discrete controllers
that are networked together and working towards a common purpose,
such as the processes and controls described herein. An example of
a distributed controller for such purposes would be one or more
integrated circuits on a chamber in communication with one or more
integrated circuits located remotely (such as at the platform level
or as part of a remote computer) that combine to control a process
on the chamber.
[0055] Without limitation, example systems may include a plasma
etch chamber or module, a deposition chamber or module, a
spin-rinse chamber or module, a metal plating chamber or module, a
clean chamber or module, a bevel edge etch chamber or module, a
physical vapor deposition (PVD) chamber or module, a chemical vapor
deposition (CVD) chamber or module, an atomic layer deposition
(ALD) chamber or module, an atomic layer etch (ALE) chamber or
module, an ion implantation chamber or module, a track chamber or
module, and any other semiconductor processing systems that may be
associated or used in the fabrication and/or manufacturing of
semiconductor wafers.
[0056] As noted above, depending on the process step or steps to be
performed by the tool, the controller might communicate with one or
more of other tool circuits or modules, other tool components,
cluster tools, other tool interfaces, adjacent tools, neighboring
tools, tools located throughout a factory, a main computer, another
controller, or tools used in material transport that bring
containers of wafers to and from tool locations and/or load ports
in a semiconductor manufacturing factory.
* * * * *